Peeta's Triumph
by wywrite
Summary: When Peeta was tempted to be a piece of the Games, and what came of it.


_Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games. I am not Suzanne Collins. This is not for profit._

A/N: This is the companion story to _Cato's Triumph_. The stories don't come in any particular order, and you don't have to read one to understand the other, but they are meant to be the two POVs of the same situation.

The arena is bigger than I thought it would be. I guess you don't get the full effect of it seeing things on a screen. I just always kind of assumed that everything was sort of pressed together; that the soaring vistas and sweeping forest were only made to seem that way for TV.

Evidently not. The field around the Cornucopia isn't terribly large, but the lake beyond it, reflecting the blue sky and throwing back the sun's light, is huge. Bordering one bank there is a field of strange, tall, grasses. They grow higher than my head and are filled with gold and rust colors. When the wind blows through them they clatter. It is not a comfortable sound. Bounding the other bank and behind us, there is a forest, deep and green, where I hope Katniss is headed the moment the gong sounds.

I look at her. She is clearly considering making for the Cornucopia. I have seen her run, just as she has seen me wrestle (evidently—I was never so surprised as when she told Haymitch about my wrestling). She could make it there and get her bow (what a lovely curve a bow has, like the curve of Katniss' lips) but she would never make it back past the Careers. At least, not unless I sacrifice myself already, here at the Cornucopia. Maybe it would work, but I have another plan, so when she looks over at me I shake my head and silently plead for her to take off into the woods.

She does the next best thing; grabs a pack and miraculously catches a knife with it (instead of with her neck) and takes off.

I observe, mostly. The careers are all focused on reaching the Cornucopia and many of the Tributes from other districts either vacillate wildly and get cut down in their hesitation halfway to the Cornucopia or panic wildly and basically throw themselves on the Career's blades. The Capitol discourages this sort of behavior, but what can they really expect? I guess many kids come in thinking that just dying and getting it over with is better than the terror of being hunted down.

So I take a few steps back from my platform after the gong sounds and wait it out. After the main fighting is over, I make my way towards the Cornucopia to try to talk to the Careers. I want to keep a healthy distance, though, so I move slowly and try to keep and advantageous position.

I literally trip over someone's arm and look down to find that the boy looking up at me is alive, though he won't be much longer from the look of it. He's scared, though, so I crouch down for a minute to hold his hand. After he dies, it occurs to me that a knife in my hand might help the Careers take me seriously. I take a quick glance around, but the only one available is the one buried just below his neck. It's pretty gory, but I pull it clear. I look up to see the entire Career pack staring at me and the dead boy from the Cornucopia. The kids from One and the girl from Two look surprised; the girl from Four looks sickened and angry. But Cato, the kid from Two, is looking between me and the boy with a sort of appraisal.

I realize they think I've killed him. Maybe it's best if I let them keep that impression.

We agree to discuss a possible alliance, and I find out that the boy they think I've killed is the boy from Four: a Career. That is a piece of luck, if you can call anyone's death lucky.

I can't.

Anyway, Cato (that's the boy from Two) knows I'm strong and they are willing to let me join them, either to help them avoid or help them track Katniss. If they track her, I'll find a way to bring the bow and arrows and get them to her. If they avoid her, good. Anyway, they'll keep me around as long as Katniss is alive. I guess I'm staking my life on her being able to survive the forest and any other Tributes out there.

I think I'll make sure to sleep nearest to the forest tonight. Just in case.

The dynamics of the Career pack are strange. On the one hand, there is camaraderie and a kind of solidarity amongst them. On the other hand, each one is constantly probing the others for weaknesses. I can already see some of them: Cato's is his temper. He's doing a good job keeping it in check for now, but Clove (who knows him best, of course) is testing it at every opportunity. Glimmer is stronger and quicker than you would think, even as a Career, but she sleeps so deeply that she will never be alert enough to hear someone creep up on her. Clove is clever and quick, but strange. I am more afraid of her than the others; despite Cato's boasts and taste for violence I think Clove might be the real crackpot among us. She gets pleasure from torturing small animals. Halcyon, the girl from Four, is a little weaker and slower than the others. Marvel is an excellent spear-thrower, but when he gets absorbed in a task, he doesn't notice the world around him. I suspect that won't be great for survival.

My weakness, of course, is my refusal to play the game. They think it is Katniss, but she is really my strength. I am stronger than all of them. After all, none of them have anything here worth dying for.

It's a terrifying experience, hunting with the pack. I have no plans on killing anybody I'm not forced to in order to protect Katniss. And these people are almost enjoying it, except maybe Halcyon. She is more stoic than anything else. The pack kills most of the immediately vulnerable kids quickly. One kid—a girl—they wound badly, but she doesn't die quickly enough to suit them. I volunteer to go back, partly just sickened and hoping to maybe escape the pack at this point, but the timing is in my favor again. I just have time to smooth the girl's hair back and kiss her forehead when she dies. I know they'll think I killed her, so I go back and make the most of it. In my heart, though, I salute her for helping me keep Katniss safe, even if it wasn't her plan.

They even ask me to track Katniss briefly one night, but eventually give up in favor of sleep. Cato's plan to wait to hunt the remaining kids until they are more run down is probably a good one. No one is going to sleep well out there with the pack hunting at night.

I've convinced Glimmer to carry the bow and quiver. Well, really, she convinced herself, and I just gave her a little encouragement. I figure that the way she sleeps, the first opportunity I get out in the woods I'm gonna snag those and run for it. Hopefully I'll run into Katniss and be able to hand them off.

It's too bad that that first opportunity comes when we've got Katniss in a tree and she's injured, just to make things a little more impossible. I don't know what she must think of me, running with the Career pack this way. The look of disappointment and anger on her face almost made me declare myself on the spot. But that won't help her. I can't do much right now. Hopefully she will think of something, because my best bet is to somehow silently kill the person I keep guard with, get the bow from Glimmer, help Katniss down, and then stay until everyone else wakes up so that killing me will be a distraction. I stay awake all night, only dozing off at the cusp of dawn.

I startle awake before I'm really even asleep, which is good, because I am able to get a good head start on the tracker-jackers. I still take a couple of stings and as much as I want to just ignore them, I can't. They hurt horribly. I reach the lake and submerge again and again until the jackers give up on me. The others have arrived by now, but not Glimmer or Halcyon. I realize that means the bow is out there, just waiting, and I have to recover it (unless by some miracle Katniss already has). The others are still distracted so I tell them I've gotta use the facilities (no one gets my jokes) and take off. I hope they won't realize I'm taking off, but it isn't too long before I'm pretty sure someone—Cato, I think—is following me. He keeps getting in digs about how I can't move quietly in the forest (like I'm even trying to) but he sounds like a cart and horse trying to get through the trees.

I pass Halcyon, dead, and practically trip into the clearing by the tree, only to see Katniss right there, wrestling the quiver away from Glimmer, who is unnaturally stiffened by hundreds of stings. I am already woozy and unbalanced from the tracker-jacker venom, and I am starting to panic because Cato will be here any minute. I scream at Katniss to run, and I can see the confusion and fear on her face and realize she is already deep in the venom's grip. She does run just as Cato comes crashing into the space and I leap in front of him, almost growling my defense.

Cato is taken aback for a second, but he underestimates me badly when he actually takes the time to stand up and think of an attack instead of just going for me immediately. I'm so angry and feeling so protective of Katniss that I have trouble concentrating, but I watch his chest and shoulders to catch his body's movement and easily evade his lunge. A quick move of my hip and he is on the ground and at my mercy. It's so easy it's almost laughable. This is the awesome Cato? I pick the sword up from where he's dropped it and position it for the kill, when I realize that this is what the Capitol wants. There are people out there watching this and cheering for him, cheering for me to kill him, and I almost vomit on him. I'm dizzy with the venom at this point, and while I think I escaped with fewer stings than Cato, I know I'm going to be incapacitated soon. If I'm not going to kill him, I have to get away now.

I throw the sword and fall off of Cato; I'm sicker than I thought. I stumble away from him but he only tips his head my direction. He won't be moving for a while. As I turn to run, I fall and incredibly, I fall onto the upturned blade of Cato's sword, spearing my thigh. I scream and clutch at it, the pain temporarily clearing my head. I tear my jacket off and wrap it around and around my thigh, trying to staunch the blood and help me walk, even just a few steps.

I slowly drag my body out of the clearing and just away, somewhere away from the tree and away from the lake. I don't know how far I've come—not very far—when the venom turns all the trees into blazing brick ovens, which grow larger and larger, trying to consume me. I decide it's a good time to pass out.

When I wake up I'm sick and thirsty and I think my leg may have fallen off while I was sleeping. In fact, I kind of hope it has. I'm slightly disappointed to see it still attached, but my thirst is paramount and I am mercifully close to a stream with some lovely muddy overhanging banks. I scoot to it and drink and drink, and then I begin the painful and tiring process of painting myself into the bank. After I finish there is little to do, but I find that I can be thankful for the stream, with its glassy, cold water, and for the rich green of the moss and the delicate ferns, and for the black and white flash of bird wings overhead, and for their lovely music.

It probably won't be such a bad way to die. I just hope that I helped Katniss. It wasn't much. Maybe I should have killed Cato, only I didn't want to. After all, he was only another piece in their Games.


End file.
